Pretty simple question, but I'm wondering if it's universal, very common, or a mixed bag. If you play in an adult, recreational league, do goalies pay anything to play on your team? Is that a league decision or up to the team/captain?

I play in two leagues. I believe goalies play for free in one, and our team captain charges our goalie 50% in the other. I always thought it was more common not to charge goalies anything, since you kind of need them more than anyone else.

In the past I've paid 50% or less for league fees, usually free. Anything outside of league fees, like jerseys, I've had to buy on my own. I usually bring beer a few extra times because I kinda feel guilty not paying the same fees my teammates do.

This is the first year that I'll be paying 100% of the fees, mostly because I know the team is hard-up and I've played with them for a few seasons and know the guys. If I were to start on a new team, I'd be hesitant to pay 50%, let alone 100%.

Subbing in, shinny, drop-in, etc. is always free for goalies.

Now, why should it be discounted or free? People usually say "because your gear costs more", but you already nailed it... because they need us. If we can't play and they can't find a sub, then there's no game. Last season I played with a stomach flu when they couldn't find a sub... I was already pretty nauseous and the physical exertion made it ten times worse. I now have a lot of respect for times I hear NHL players playing while sick.

If there's no enough goalies for each team, they play for free if we can find them which kinda sucks for the goalies who already paid (but still not full price anyway) but in the end all we wanna do is just play some hockey and have fun. Goalies always skate free in pick up, max. of 4 goalies though.

in Rec League our goalies pay a yearly insurance fee but that's it.
in the Open League it varies by team. you must have 16 people on your roster. if you can get 16 skaters to sign up early you can qualify for a "Team Fee" and get 2 additional people on the roster for free. a lot of teams use this to get their goalie free hockey. my team uses it to get two free "subs". also in this league captains get a refund of their fees if they've met certain requirements during the season. some of the captains use their rebate to pay for part or all of their goalie's fees.

On my beer league team, it really depends on the goalie. More often than not, each of the skaters pays a few extra bucks, which adds up to cover the goalie's registration fee for the year. On the other hand though, the goalie we had on our team for a few seasons wouldn't even think about not paying the full price just like the rest of the guys.

I've played in a few senior NBC "beer" leagues over the years.
Regular goalies most commonly pay about half price; I've heard of some paying full price.
If we need a spare goalie for a game or two, they don't pay.

It's up to they team rep. what to charge (who has the 'fun' job of organizing the team, collecting money, finding a sponsor, dealing with the league president, etc.). I got suckered into that job for one year - about 2/3 of the guys were good; the rest of them were about as responsible as 5 years old (if that).

On a side note, the sponsor (when we had one) usually paid for jerseys or when it was a bar paid the team a certain amount that depended on how many guys came back to the bar after the game on a regular basis.